tratte

Tratte is the plural form of the Italian noun tratta, which denotes a stretch or section within a transportation network or a route to be traveled. It can refer to a specific segment of road, rail, or waterway (for example, una tratta autostradale or una tratta ferroviaria) as well as to a leg of a journey in a timetable or itinerary. The term is common in Italian planning, logistics, and travel writing and is used to distinguish individual segments from the broader concept of an entire route.

Etymology and sense overlap: Tratta derives from Latin tractus, meaning a drawn-out portion or stretch, and it is related to the sense of a length or segment that can be defined, measured, and scheduled. In modern usage, tratte are treated as discrete units within a network that may be managed, priced, or optimized separately from adjacent segments.

Usage and examples: In practice, tratte appear in phrases such as la tratta Milano-Genova or le tratte di autobus per a specifico capolinea, designating particular sections of a network. In logistics and transportation planning, a company may analyze several tratte to improve efficiency, assigning operations, timetables, or fare structures to individual tratte. In descriptive writing, tratte can describe familiar routes or travel itineraries by focusing on specific stretches rather than the entire journey.

In English-language contexts, tratte is not a common term and is usually rendered as “route segment” or “section of a route,” depending on context. See also: tratta (singular) for the general sense; trattare is a different word with unrelated meanings.